SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Trying to Divine The Three Phases Of Jim Dolan

By SELENA ROBERTS

Published: November 15, 2007

There are few assets James L. Dolan adores as much as his own glorious head of hair, which he lavishly coifs to Mitt Romney perfection. But as with all of his loves, Dolan can turn on his follicles, too.

Whenever he seethes, Dolan grabs his locks with his right hand as an alternative to someone's collar, providing a brief, if unsustainable, moment of anger management.

There he was Sunday night, seen furiously raking his majestic hair, after witnessing Stephon Marbury throw a jump pass to a phantom Knick and hoist a 3-point attempt that hit the glass with the force of a pie in the face. Onlookers noticed Dolan standing in his own fumes for several minutes after the Marbury meltdown against the Miami Heat was complete.

Fans at Madison Square Garden filed out around Dolan, the Knicks' owner. What was with the Garden's Mane Man? Employees with local knowledge of Dolan lore could tell you this: Marbury had entered Phase 3 in what has been labeled by staffers over the years as the Three Phases of Jim.

Phase 1: Who are you?

Phase 2: I love you.

Phase 3: You're fired.

The various Garden stars who have tumbled into Phase 3 -- from Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby to Jeff Van Gundy and Marv Albert, from Anucha Browne Sanders and Scott Layden to Dave Checketts and Larry Brown -- forever find themselves run out, pushed out or bought out.

Welcome to the bitter end, Steph. You can extend your stay for a while, maybe longer, but you cannot shoot, pass or jump your way out of Phase 3. No one survives it. All vanish.

It is unknown exactly what Dolan told Isiah Thomas after the Knicks' unthinkable loss to the unsightly Heat, but the conversation probably included some version of the words, ''Sack Marbury.''

Aboard the team plane Monday, as The Daily News described it yesterday, Marbury learned his Starbury-ness was about to be benched five games into the season by Thomas, his protector, mentor and image adviser (the third role having not worked out too hot).

Marbury reacted by bolting the team Tuesday. Back to his Coney Island crowd, back to his inner circle. Once, Marbury's cabal of unconditional enablers included Thomas. Once, after having been liberated from Brown's gloomy grip, Sour-bury actually smiled at the thought of being coached by Thomas, a co-survivor from the streets.

Their rip cords would always be entwined, Steph thought. If they went down in New York, they would go down together. Trust is so fickle, though.

Marbury is far from a sympathetic figure, but why wouldn't he feel betrayed? Yes, Steph's defense is hopelessly pedestrian, but so is Jamal Crawford's. Yes, Steph's leadership disappears for days, but so does Eddy Curry in the paint. Yes, Steph deserves to be benched, but he has been benched many times since he arrived as Thomas's signature acquisition in 2004.

And yet Thomas chose this opportunity to single out Steph. In these types of Garden situations, the reason why is a simple answer: because Jim said so. Although his public persona has been diminished of late, Dolan still calls the shots.

What Marbury doesn't understand is that Thomas is clinging to the pants' leg of Phase 2 in Jim's hierarchy of reactions (the I-Love-You level).

What better way to keep close to Jim than for Thomas to distance himself from Marbury, the only Knick more radioactive than himself. Steph is the one who stuck a quarter into the Garden's unseemly sexual-harassment trial in September and turned it into a peep show.

Marbury is the one who left the tabloids licking their headlines with his tale of seducing a Garden intern by unveiling this romantic pickup line: ''Are you going to get in the truck?''

Marbury is the one who worried the Garden's image-conscious corporate sponsors the most when he trumped his bizarre summer of interviews with courtroom testimony that would curl the khakis of suburban consumers.

Thomas and Dolan rightly took the verdict hits for creating a misogynistic work environment out of a Gloria Steinem slide show. Dolan and Thomas should be held accountable, but Marbury has been sacrificed, not as a victim, but as the scoundrel who lost the game of musical chairs.

Steph could be gone in a Don Chaney instant unless he ruins a quick buyout plan with a burst of the old Starbury. This would be only a stalling tactic, though.

There is no cure for Phase 3, only prevention. Should the Knicks fall to, say, 3-9, Thomas will probably be smart enough to have a peaceful exit strategy. To prevent a nasty breakup, Thomas could hand over the team to Herb Williams, excusing himself to concentrate on his trial appeal.

That would pre-empt the messiness of yet another Garden employee's fall into Phase 3 -- if only by a few precious hairs on Dolan's head.